10 Best Heel Turns Of The WWE Attitude Era
3. Stone Cold Steve Austin (2001)
Yes it's contentious. What happened after this event left a bitter taste in the mouths of many. Credit, however, must be given to the initial delivery of what transpired on that fateful night in WrestleMania 17.
Steve Austin shaking hands with Vince McMahon in a sudden shift of ethics was utterly unthinkable back in the Attitude Era. There was no other turn in the industry that could have represented a shattering of perceptions within the WWE universe more so than this. There was no other scenario worthy of its magnitude than the main event of the largest WrestleMania to date, which was also held in Steve's back yard of Texas.
Placing this event in a bubble and allowing it to float away from the rest of 2001 allows us to appreciate Austin's heel turn for what it was on the night. WWE were going for shock value, and they could not have achieved that any better.
The turn was a ballsy, dangerous, spine-chilling and vivid moment in wrestling history, and all of us who were there when it happened, remember exactly how it made us feel.